Living With Otters
by kaybet
Summary: The Doctor and River get into a fight, and River leaves him. Alone. With otters.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Doctor who. If I did, this would be a mini episode. Please. Make this a mini episode, if you're reading this Moffat. Pretty please...**

**Oh, and I'm trying to make this funny and cute, but knowing me and how I write, it might turn bad for the Doctor. Let's hope I can write fluff! And I know that I should be working on either From Bad to Worse or Sixteen Years, but I just had to do this. **

"River!" The Doctor called after the blonde as she walked away angrily, her curls bouncing in time with her footsteps. He said something, he didn't know what, and she huffed away from the shore of the lake he had brought her to.

He thought it would be a good idea to bring her here, have a nice little picnic. Everything was going well, they sat down, ate their sandwiches as they talked and it was all fine.

Halfway through his sandwich, which was turkey on rye, not his favorite but oh, well, a otter came up to them.

They were ancestors of common earth river otters and looked like them, but these otters were easily the size of a dog, probably around the same as a lab, but they were otters, just big.

Anyway, the otter came up to them, slowly at first, behind the two. As River and the Doctor talked, it slipped between them and snatched the Doctor's sandwich from his hands, before scampering off again.

He looked sadly at his now empty hands and River laughed at his misfortune. After that, they talked a little more as they watched the giant otters fight over his sandwich, which brought them to their fight.

They both said a few disagreeable words to each other when River started to walk away.

"River, please, I'm sorry!" He said as he navigated the ground, trying not to trip over roots and rocks as the Doctor followed River back to the TARDIS.

River muttered something as they neared the TARDIS, something not nice at all. She was really angry, the Doctor concluded as he followed her, trying to hear what she said.

And of course, with his concentration focused on River and no longer where he was placing his feet. His toes caught under a root and he fell forward, his ankle twisting as he fell right on his nose, breaking it.

"OW!" He yelled as he righted himself, dislodging his foot from the root tenderly, discovering that he had probably twisted it. All he knew right now was that it hurt. A lot. "River?" He whimpered.

But she didn't reply. He looked up to see the TARDIS dematerialize, leaving him with a bleeding nose and twisted ankle in the mud.

Day One

He waited the for River, limping over to a nearby log and sitting, hands in his lap. The planet he took River to was very similar to Earth, plus some giant otters, and the hours were the same. Nighttime fell and River was still gone, TARDIS still wherever and the Doctor still covered in mud.

It was getting cold.

Day Three

The Doctor was still waiting for River, his clothes not only muddy now, but completely soaked. It rained earlier, poured really, and everything felt like fifty pounds heavier. The wind had also picked up, so he was shivering like mad. The Doctor pulled off his tweed jacket, rung it out as best as he could, and hung it on a nearby limb to dry. His shirt and trousers were just as wet, so those had to go too.

Day Four

It rained again last night and his clothes were still soaked. The Doctor sat on his log, completely naked, save for his socks, covering himself as he waited for River.

Day Six

It keeps on raining, every night. The Doctor was starting to get hungry. Thankfully with all the rain, he had something to drink.

Day Eight

The Doctor left his log, positive that if River were to finally come to her senses and return, he'd hear the TARDIS. He wandered around the forested area and back to the lake, looking for anything to eat. He saw the giant otters and approached them slowly, hoping they'd have some food... Hm... Fish fingers and custard... Not that they would have fish fingers and custard. Still he could hope.

But they all scattered as he came close, so he sat on a rock and watched.

Day Eleven

It seemed as the otters were slowly accepting him as one of their own.

One of them, the one who stole his sandwich, came close, putting a half-eaten fish down at the Doctor's feet and scampering away.

The Doctor wasn't sure he was that hungry yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Day Fourteen

Okay... He was getting that hungry. The black otter brought him half a fish daily, and took it back after a couple of hours.

The Doctor looked at the fish, prodding it with his big toe. He really, really didn't want to eat it, half-chewed on raw fish... But his gurgling stomach wanted it. The Doctor bent down and prodded it with his fingers, tearing a little piece off and inspecting it. God... It smelt so awful.

Just pretend it's a fish finger... The Doctor told himself as he closed his eyes and brought the piece of raw fish to his mouth.

He puked as soon as the piece hit his tongue.

Damn thing tasted nothing like a fish finger.

Day Sixteen

He had spent all day looking for something else to eat besides fish. At this point, he'd probably eat grass, if it meant his stomach would stop hurting from hunger. And he tried eating the nearby grass.

Which made him sick and wouldn't do anything for him.

After trying the grass and washing his mouth out with some water from a stream, he kept looking. He was very glad that he brought River to a planet untouched by man and without pollution.

He found some acorn-like things, but they were green, so those were out. There weren't any berries, so there basically wasn't anything to eat.

Day Eighteen

He did it. He ate the fish.

Day Nineteen

The Doctor spent most of his day in the woods, sick. The black otter came up and checked on him, but the Doctor shooed him away.

Day Twenty

His stomach felt better, but he was still hungry.

Day Twenty Two

The other otters had slowly started to approach him, coming only a couple feet close to him before turning away and scampering off again, coming back a few minutes later. It was always a different otter, like they were daring each other to reach him and his boulder, which is where he always sat.

The black otter, however, always came with half a fish, which he only took little bites out of, to help his hunger.

He thought that the black otter should have a name. Maybe his name should be Jack.

Day Twenty Five

As it turns out, the black otter which he had thoughtfully named Jack was actually a girl. He now knew this because Jack brought over a bunch of pups over to him. They warily approached the Doctor, Jack nudging them closer. After a while, Jack began to nudge the cute little baby otters back home.

After all the baby otters were gone, Jack came back and tried to nudge the Doctor off of his boulder. The Doctor stayed adamantly and the otter huffed at him, before leaving again.

In his mind, the Doctor renamed the otter Jackie.


	3. Chapter 3

Day Thirty

This planet doesn't really have a true winter, just a few days of colder temperature and maybe even ice. Or was it a few months? Like Earth? He couldn't remember.

All he knew at the moment was the winter of this planet was coming, and it was coming fast. Maybe a couple of days, even. Last night was quite chilly, and when he woke up, frost clung to his skin. He went back to find his clothes, and they were no longer soaked. Instead they were completely frozen. When he actually touched it, a piece of his jacket actually broke off.

So much for clothes... He thought bitterly.

Day Thirty One

He thinks he knows why Jackie the otter kept trying to nudge him away from his boulder every night. When he woke up, he was shivering uncontrollably and covered in snow. He could swear his skin was blue.

He thanked whatever that he wasn't human, otherwise he would be dead. Jackie came out in the morning, probably to check on him, and she stuck her nose in the Doctor's side. He could barely feel it.

She nudged him, and this time he went willingly, walking slow on numb feet. She led her to nothing more than a big hole, in the side of a bank, made out of dirt and rocks. It seemed big enough for him to maybe shimmy in. He stared at it, hoping that if he were to get in there, it was bigger on the inside.

Jackie nudged him again, trying to get him inside. He sighed and got on his hands and knees, slowly crawling into the hole, naked butt waving in the air as he shimmied in.

Thankfully, it was bigger on the inside, not enough to let him stretch out fully, but enough to curl up, while the other baby otters, thankfully only about a foot big, crawled around, playing with each other.

He let his eyes adjust to the darkness while he ignored the terrible smell of otters. At least he was starting to warm up a bit.

He felt something warm and fuzzy curl up beside him, bigger than the pups, so it must have been Jackie. With all the warm otters curling up to him, he began to warm up, feeling his limbs again and he started to drift off.

Day Thirty Two

He stayed in the otter's den the entire day, the only indication that time passed being weak sunlight poking through the entrance and Jackie bringing him fish, full, not chewed-on fish, and trying to force him to eat it.

He smiled as he ate tiny pieces, thinking that he named this otter well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, this is surprisingly easy to write and I'm enjoying it. It's a nice break from Sixteen Years and From Bad to Worse. Remember, I love reviews and I'm not above begging. And if you have any ideas about, well, anything, I'd love to hear.**

**Oh, two chapters in one day? That's how easy this is for me to write.**

**And of course, me being me, this has a bit of Doctor!Whump in it... Poor guy...**

Day Thirty Five

One of the little bugger pups bit him. And the bloody thing bit him... _There. _On his... Well, where it hurt the most.

They were playing, bumping constantly into him and scratching him every once in a while. Jackie had seemed to tell them off earlier, but they were at it again, when somehow, he wasn't sure because he couldn't see, bit him there.

And he howled.

Jackie came scampering in, growling and snarling and the pups stopped messing about immediately, pressing themselves against the den wall and whimpering. The Doctor held himself in his hands, fighting back tears as Jackie came near, gently inspecting him with her nose.

When she prodded lower, he pushed her nose away with one hand, hoping she wouldn't look further. That would be even more awkward.

Thankfully, she didn't and she snarled at the pups before leaving, return with a big, plump fish, offering it to the Doctor as an apology.

Day Thirty Eight

Oh, god.

His bite wound was infected.

It hurt and itched and... _oozed..._

He rolled over in the small cave, turning his back to the pups and curling into the smallest ball possible.

An otter came in, brushing against him slightly. He could tell it was Jackie with fish because of the prudent smell of the fish. She must have put it down, or something, because he felt Jackie's prodding nose again, going all over his back and pausing on his neck, right by his ear.

He turned his head away as best as he could and Jackie stopped prodding.

A moment later a piece of fish found his way by his face. He pushed it away as he tried not to be sick. Right now, sick was the last smell they needed.

Day Thirty... Nine? Forty? Maybe Forty five?

Oh, he was hot. But when he uncurled from a ball, he was cold. And he needed to move about, needed to stretch his legs. Everytime he did, either he would bump into a wall and hurt himself or he would bump into something furry, something not nice that would snarl and nip and scratch at him.

But there was one snarling furry thing that was nice to him, one with a cold, wet nose that was stuck everywhere.

If he had the strength to, he would probably be bothered and push the nose away, but at the moment, he really couldn't be bothered to.

Day... Whatever

He wasn't sure if it was day or night. He couldn't see, but then again, his eyes could be closed. He tried to move his arms to feel his face, but they felt like dead weights.

As soon as he attempted moving, something furry moved against his chest, small wet nose pressed against him. It wasn't Jackie's nose, it was too small, so it must have been on of the pups.

The pup whimpered, moving about between his chest and the dirt wall. Ever so slowly, the Doctor found enough strength in his upper arms to reach up and curl his arms around the small pup in a loose embrace.

They both seemed to fall asleep quickly.

Day ?

Jackie woke him sometime later. He wasn't sure when it was, but weak sunlight peeked into the den, quickly fading. The pup from earlier was no longer in his arms against his chest.

Jackie nudged a small piece of fish by his face as best as the otter could manage in the small space. The Doctor couldn't reach it with his hands, but he moved his weak neck, getting his mouth close to it, grabbing the meat with his tongue and teeth.

Even though it was raw, chewed up fish covered in dirt and god knows what, it tasted brilliant and he realized that he was starving.

Content that he was eating, Jackie kept nudging pieces of fish to him.


	5. Chapter 5

Day... Okay, he really had no idea how many days it's been.

For the first time in forever, Jackie allowed him to crawl out of the den. He was slow, but he made it out eventually, crawling on his hands and knees. Jackie encouraged him, crawling out backwards in front of him while the pups behind him prodded him repeatedly in the backside with their noses, wanting to be out as well.

The small tunnel that connected the den to the outside seemed bigger than it was before. Had Jackie widened it while he was sick?

When the Doctor got out, he realised that the tunnel wasn't bigger, he was smaller. Well, not smaller, but a whole lot skinnier. At least, enough to see most of his ribs and some of his again, he's always been skinny.

Thankfully, it wasn't very cold outside, it wasn't warm either, but it was enough to be able to withstand the colder temperatures of the lake, so he was able to clean himself. His hair was absolutely horrible, caked in mud and god knows what, probably otter dung, and it took twenty minutes to get it even semi clean.

It would have taken at least an hour to get it completely clean, but the Doctor gave up by then and instead cleaned the rest of himself.

It was still very badly infected.

Day Where the hell is River?!

The Doctor sat on his boulder, arms crossed and angrily staring out to the water. He had no idea how long he's been here, at least a couple months because winter was ending, or already ended, he couldn't tell, and River was still missing.

He went back to where the TARDIS disappeared, looking for his clothes. Only his bow tie was left, his other clothes all torn up. He sighed and picked up his bow tie, putting it in it's rightful place around his neck.

Day I'm not mad.

Yeah, he was mad. And still a little sick. He could feel the heat radiating off of him, and in weather like this, where is what cooler, but not cold, it felt nice.

Jackie would bring him fish every couple of hours, but other than that, she stayed away from him. All the otters stayed away from him, even Jackie's pups.

They must have known he was mad.

Day Well, I give up.

He's been sitting on his rock for a few days now, refusing to let Jackie take him back to the den to warm up. Well, at least he's eating.

After a while of thinking about River and why he was mad, the Doctor came to the conclusion that he was sulking.

No. He wasn't sulking.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, it's been a while. Like, over a year, maybe even two. A lot of shit's happened, a lot of backstabbing, hurt feelings and overall shit. **

**But whatever. I'm so done with it.**

Day 105

Living in the wild wasn't as nearly hard as he thought it would be. He wasn't sick anymore, that was something. He wasn't sure what day it actually was, but using the stars and sun as a natural chart, he estimated that it had been a hundred and five days on the planet, or five months. Maybe more, he couldn't tell how sick he was and how many days he lost.

The pups were growing, slowly, but he could tell the difference. Every day it seemed that they were getting more rowdy, fighting more and biting each other and him. Jackie didn't seem to yell at them as much. After each time they bit him, he made sure to clean it as much as he could.

Day 107

It was getting cold again, so he made himself a shirt of leaves. Pfft. He had this whole thing handled. He tried to make fire, once, but it was a lot harder without a sonic. Luckily Jackie didn't mind if he slept in the den with her. There wasn't much room and his feet stuck out of the hole, but it was fine most of the time.

Day 120

The pups left the den. He's convinced that Jackie's trying to get him to do the same.

Day 125

There was a soft mud mound just on the edges of the otter's little…. Dare he say village? When he poked it with a stick it seemed strong enough to hold up, but soft enough to carve. Since Jackie was adamant about him moving out, he started working on his own den.

Day 126

He managed to carve out the den before the day ended, and he ate his fish in the small hole as a celebration. The den wasn't any bigger than Jackie's, but it was big enough for him to have space to stretch out somewhat. He couldn't have his legs straight, but that would just help him keep warm.

Day 127

The day after he made his den, it rained. At first he celebrated and danced in the rain and everything was great. Since it had been a while since it last rained, it'd been awhile since he had fresh water that didn't taste fishy, he decided to take mud and leaves to make makeshift bowls and cups to gather the rain. It worked better than he thought it would and he was ecstatic.

Then he returned to his den to find that it was leaking horribly.

**Short, yes, but the next chapter will likely be the last and likely be out tomorrow.**


	7. Chapter 7

Day 128

His den was falling apart.

He lined the roof with sticks and leaves to try to repel water, but it's been raining nonstop since yesterday. The holes kept getting bigger and the leaves did nothing but help the water find new holes.

That night he slept with wet feet and cold hands.

Day 129

Despite his best efforts to save the den, there's nothing more of it then a hole in the ground filled with sticks, leaves and mud. Hell, even his makeshift clothes are ruined.

Day 130

Jackie let him back in her den.

Day 131

The wind woke him up early in the morning, even though he was deep in Jackie's den, deep asleep. At this point, he didn't even care. He was covered in bits of fish, mud… and smelly stuff that he didn't want to look at. He was caked in it, but it didn't stop him from shimming out backwards out of the small den before straightening up. He yawned, closed his eyes and stretched before he heard that sound again.

Within a few seconds he went from confused to utterly surprised. The wheezing wind sound seemed to fill his very soul and he took off, running into the woods.

Where he tripped over a branch, rolled a few times and landed, butt high in the air, face against a wooden blue box. He looked at it, one eye opened before smiling widely.

"Ha!" He yelled as he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the growing pain in his ankle. He was sure he twisted it again, but he didn't care.

She was back.

He hugged her frame, pressing dirty kisses to the side of the box. "Oh, you beauty!" He said several times, in between each kiss.

The door squeaked open and he paused in kissing the box to look at the person who stepped out. The blonde gave a sigh, looking over the dirty, naked Doctor.

"Sweetie, it's been less than a month."

"Oh."

**Okay, it's clearly not tomorrow, but consider this done! Unless you want more, which you can tell me via review. Tell me what you think with a review. Please, just review. And check out my other series, which I'll hopefully get back to now that I'm trying to turn back to writing fanfiction.**


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